Part 5 of a five-part series on what to keep in mind for cloud security.
In part 1 we considered the importance of knowing the details of your company’s network. In part 2 we discussed the need for keeping data backup onsite in case of an emergency, along with the acronym D2D2C and the 3-2-1 rule for maximum protection. Then in part 3 we considered the importance of addressing end user issues as they arise and keeping accurate documentation of most common issues. In part 4 we examined the need for controlling cloud traffic or load balancing.
The principle of testing the backup plan before deployment is a hugely important one for obvious reasons. Our CTO hammers home the importance of testing, testing, then testing again before deployment.
It is imperative for any environment to be tested extensively, with comprehensive documentation for each step in the process. Some questions to consider are:
- What’s the recovery sequence?
- Did it cause any significant problems?
- Is everything accounted for?
- How widely distributed is your data?
- Did the contingency plan result in comprehensive recovery?
- How long did it take?
No matter how foolproof a contingency plan looks, it needs to be tested in real-world working conditions to ensure dependability – especially if a network is hosted in the cloud. Maintaining proper documentation on tests can prove invaluable in a similar, real-world event.
The exact data recovery measures will vary from business to business, given different infrastructure sizes, networking, data size, and compute specifications. However, if you know exactly what is running in the cloud, what your users’ data needs are, and what data is essential for your business to continue running smoothly, planning for disaster should not be too much of a hassle.
We hope you’ve benefited from our tips on cloud data protection. With over a decade providing premier IT solutions, we understand safety and downtime are the most important issues to address in providing IT and cloud solutions and services. Cloud safely.
